I spend a lot of time observing teachers helping students use technology. I've come to accept the reality of the situation; teachers end up spending a lot of time redirecting student attention and helping solve minor technical issues. It doesn't matter if a student is using a desktop, laptop, or Sony Xperia Z tablet- at some point, the student will raise his/her hand and signal the teacher over for help.

Here's the problem with this situation: because the student is raising a hand, both hands are off the keyboard and the student loses all productivity until the teacher is able to come over and assist.

While observing one of our elementary computer labs, I saw a simple solution to this problem. At first, I didn't understand how Stephanie Wieczorek, the building media specialist, knew which students needed help. She somehow seemed to intuitively understand which students were stuck, even if they were completing another task. In fact, other students seemed to understand when their neighbors were stuck, and intervened as well.

Then I saw the cups. Each student had two stacked plastic cups in front of them- a red one, and a green one. For almost every student, the green cup was on top. The few students who needed help put the red cup on top and continued to work on other tasks. With a quick scan of the room, Stephanie was able to see which students needed help and which students were on task.

This is an incredibly simple solution to a situation that often ends up causing a lot of frustration for both students and teachers. Try it out! The process is simple enough for even the youngest children to understand, and only costs a few dollars to implement.